With the support of the Kids committees of each prefectural football association (FA), JFA has been holding “Traveling guidance” courses throughout the nation. The courses are held by the “Traveling guidance staffs” of each prefectural FA, where the staffs attend kindergartens, nurseries, and primary schools to provide various programmes for children to enjoy football. Joined by guidance staffs who specialise in coaching football, teachers who may not have the experience or knowledge to instruct football, are enabled to hold sessions to allow the children to exercise using the ball. Here we will introduce the traveling guidance activities that were recently conducted.

Tue. 11 May, Akao Nursery school (Koshu, Yamanashi)

49 children from the five-year old class participated under a warm weather. The children were seen running round the field throughout the course. The drills were fun, easy to follow, and challenging enough so that the children were able to improve themselves while having fun. The coaches taught the importance to never give up and the children responded by showing them how much they improved after each drill. The children played a scrimmage game at the end to conclude the course. The teachers also took on an active role to make the course enjoyable for the children.

Coaches' Comments

NEZU Kentaro (FA Traveling Guidance Staff)
The kids of Akao Nursery were very energetic and polite. We were blessed with a wonderful weather, and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. We started with drills where kids can use their hands and gradually raised the difficulty level. Although some kids struggled to complete the drills at first, we kept telling them to “never give up,” and eventually everybody was able to complete the drills. The last scrimmage was very exciting, and I will not forget their enthusiasm to make efforts until the end.

KUREBAYASHI Hidetoshi (FA Traveling Guidance Staff)
Everybody at this nursery was full of energy and they were used to running around the turf bare footed. The kids challenged each drill over and over, until they were able to complete each drill. We concluded the course with a scrimmage game where everyone gave their best efforts to chase the ball.

TAKAYAMA Yohei (FA Traveling Guidance Staff)
All the kids at Akao Nursery were well behaved and very enthusiastic. Even when they struggled to complete the drills at first, they actively asked questions to improve themselves. We even saw some kids giving advice to their peers, which was very nice to see.

Participating Teachers' Comments

- Each drill was setup like a game, so everyone was able to have fun while getting used to the ball. The coaches taught the kids one-on-one, which allowed some of the kids who are not good at exercising participate the course without feeling uncomfortable. The final scrimmage game allowed the kids to gain a sense of accomplishment, regardless of whether they won or not. We hope to incorporate football into our daily exercises. Thankyou very much.

- The kids were looking forward for this football course. It was great to see the kids continue to make efforts even if they made mistakes. It really nurtured the spirt of “never giving up.” The scrimmage game was very exciting to watch. Thank you very much.